WATCH: Shubman Gill’s Special Request To Captain Rohit Sharma Following Discussion Of Batting At Virat Kohli’s Position
India’s young batting sensation Shubman Gill was given the Polly Umrigar award for best men’s cricketer of the year 2022-23 at the BCCI awards on Tuesday (January 23). Gill had a stellar year in all three formats scoring a remarkable figure of 1,583 runs in ODI cricket with an average of 63.36 and strike-rate of 105.45. Arguably, Gill is on the right track as last year he became the fastest to reach 2,000 ODI runs which he did in just 38 innings during a World Cup match against the Netherlands.
Gill and Harsha Bhogle had a quick chat after the young batter was handed the award by BCCI secretary Jay Shah in which they discussed batting at number 3 which was s position for almost a long period of time and fielding at short-leg. Gill make a cheeky request to captain Rohit Sharma when Harsha Bhogle told him that as he gets senior he will be moved from that position.
Best International Cricketer(Men) 2022-23 – Shubman Gill harsh (@harshonx_)
Playing for the Gujarat Titans in the IPL, Gill maintained his impressive form. With three hundreds among his 890 runs, the second-highest total in an IPL season, he was awarded the Orange Cap. Notable was his performance in the Qualifier 2 match, where he hit the greatest individual score in IPL playoff history with 129 runs.
Former India cricketers Ravi Shastri and Farokh Engineer were awarded the prestigious Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award on Tuesday during the Naman Awards.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Roger Binny and BCCI Secretary Jay Shah presented the award to Shastri and Farokh. In Shastri’s international cricket career which panned from 1981 to 1992, Shastri served as a highly useful all-rounder, capable of playing any role for his team and grinding it out in tough situations. He often played as an opener or in the middle order while batting and could deliver some crucial overs of left-arm spin too.
Shastri had a solid Test record. In 80 Test matches, he scored 3,830 runs at an average of 35.79. He scored 11 centuries and 12 fifties in 121 innings of his career, with the best individual score of 206. The all-rounder also has taken 151 wickets, with best bowling figures of 5/75.
Shastri is part of the team which won the 50-over Cricket World Cup in 1983. In the tournament, he scored 40 runs in five innings, with the best score of 17 and took a total of four wickets, with the best bowling spell of 3/26.
Another career-defining moment came for Shastri in 1985 when he played a big role in his team’s win at the World Championship of Cricket, defeating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final.
Shastri won the ‘Man of the Tournament’ award for scoring 182 runs in five matches at an average of 45.50, with three fifties. He also took eight wickets, finishing as the joint-third-highest wicket-taker.
After the conclusion of his international cricket career in 1992, he was heard as a commentator. His authoritative voice, enthusiasm and knowledge of the game make him one of the country’s most beloved commentators. His calls during India’s winning moments in T20 World Cup 2007 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 still live in the minds of millions.
On the other hand, Farokh was well known for his craftmanship with the bat and agility behind the stumps. His skillset made him best suited for keeping to the legendary spin quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Chandrasekhar and Venkataraghavan.
Farokh during his career played 46 Test matches for India and amassed 2611 runs which included two centuries and 16 half-centuries.
His most memorable moment as a batsman was against West Indies at Madras in 1966-67. He scored 94 before lunch on the first day against the iconic pacers Wes Hall, Charles Griffith, Gary Sobers and spinner Richard Gibbs. The list of award winners includes Lala Amarnath, Syed Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Hazare, Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and many more. (With ANI inputs)